Cairo - An Egyptian court on Monday acquitted Egyptian dissident Saad Eddin-Ibrahim of charges of "defaming Egypt," Cairo's official news agency reported.

Ibrahim, the founder Cairo's Ibn Khaldun Centre for Development Studies and a former professor at the American University in Cairo, had been sentenced in absentia to two years in prison last August.

Ibrahim, 69, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, had been accused of "harming Egypt's image abroad" in connection with an article he had written for the Washington Post, in which he accused the Egyptian government of committing human rights abuses.

In the article, he urged the United States to make its aid to Egypt conditional on political reform in Egypt.

Ibrahim spent 15 months in prison after a Cairo court sentenced him to seven years in prison in 2001 on charges of "tarnishing Egypt's reputation." He was released on appeal.

Ahmed Rizq, Ibrahim's brother, told the German Press Agency dpa that his brother would return to Egypt before US President Barack Obama visits Cairo on June 4. (dpa)